Nvidia Corporation has developed technology to verify the location of its processors, according to Reuters.
The feature was introduced privately and will be offered to clients as an option. The tool employs “confidential computing capabilities of graphics processing units (GPUs).”
The software is designed to “track the overall performance of the chip,” a standard practice among companies purchasing processors in bulk for large data centers.
The location of semiconductors is determined by analyzing the latency in data exchanges with Nvidia’s servers. The corporation plans to make the software open-source for examination by external researchers.
Nvidia emphasized that “there are no features that allow the company to remotely control registered systems or take actions against them.” Telemetry data is read-only.
“There is no capability in the GPUs for Nvidia or any remote party to disable the chip,” company representatives stated.
The feature will first appear on new Blackwell chips. The possibility of adding it to other semiconductor generations is being explored.
Smuggling Concerns
Nvidia’s decision follows reports of its chips being smuggled into China. According to the source, DeepSeek uses processors imported into the country without official authorization.
“We have not seen any evidence or received reports of ‘phantom data centers’ built to deceive us and our partners. Although such smuggling seems unlikely, we are investigating all reports we receive,” a company representative stated.
The US has banned the export of flagship Blackwell chips to China to maintain leadership in the AI race.
Back in December, US President Donald Trump announced that authorities would allow Nvidia to sell H200 chips to “approved customers” in China and other countries.